The Winter Vow...
Hello all! We Exiles have a little more free time on our hands, and Confundus is moving merrily along, as well as we can see, at any rate.

I made a Winter Vow recently--well, a little over a month ago. It is a temporary intimate partnership lasting from the fall equinox until dawn of the spring equinox. At that point, one can either terminate the partnership, or make a Summer Vow, which extends the partnership until the following fall equinox.

Alas, these are not legally binding in the United States; this does not, however, negate their validity as trial domestic partnerships; and they can be applied to couples of any sexual orientation. The concept came from the novel The Year the Horses Came, the first novel in Mary Mackey's Neolithic-inspired Earthsong Trilogy.

Here is the text of the vow we used:

"From now until the Spring Equinox, I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine. I accept the offer, the gift of love, of the one my heart loves, from now until the dawning of the next spring day. From now until then, I am yours. From now until then, I will be with no other; to no other besides you will I make vows of love and devotion. This vow shall terminate at dawn of the next Spring Equinox, subject to renewal by further vows, whether temporary or permanent, or not, as we shall agree.

"Come to my embrace and my hearthfire in perfect love and in perfect trust, and fear not. You are blessed, beloved and sacred to me, the one my heart loves, from now until the next Spring day. I pray every blessing of Creation and the Four Directions to rest on both our heads. So mote it be." [Exchange of tokens follows]

*Of course, certain phrases are borrowed with thanks from the Biblical Song of Songs, as Biblical scholars will undoubtedly note. Aside from these, the text of this vow is original.*